Old Habits Die Hard
by Prosper-the-XVIII
Summary: We are all aware of Bond's annoying yet funny habit of letting himself into M's apartment whenever he feels like it, often at incredibly opportune moments. Well, M has some experience in that area herself... Prologue for my fic, Back To The Start.


**Okay, I got this idea after I read Lavender and Hay's fic, Overtime, then found myself contemplating the argument between Evelyn (young version of M) and the M at that point in BTTS. M brought up the fact that Evelyn has the inability to return cars to the Q Dept. in one piece (though this hasn't made an impact on his car budget for Evelyn; during that particular scene she is driving a Bugatti Veyron) and Evelyn retorts by saying; "Do you think I MEANT to crash that Aston Martin? And did you give a damn about what happened to me? No. An airbag exploding in your face is a lot more painful than it sounds" So I decided to write a bit about that! Hope you like it!  
PS. This may be a bit of a rewrite of Skyfall, but I could honestly see this happening between the old M and Evelyn.**

* * *

"If this isn't overtime, then I don't know what the hell is." M didn't have to look up to know who the cool, clear and slightly annoyed woman's voice belonged to.

"Evelyn, what on earth are doing here?"

"Well, I tried your house and nobody was there, so I decided to come here to make sure you hadn't been brutally murdered or something," M opened his mouth to respond; for once in her life Evelyn was making an effort to be pleasant(ish), but she wasn't finished. "And if you had been murdered, I was going to find out who did it and send them flowers. And before you start creating about that; keep your tampon in, I closed the window after myself."

"Your concern is overwhelming," M said flatly. A quick glance at his Rolex told him that it was now about three in the morning. How the hell did that happen? Last time he checked, it had been half six. "Could you at least have had the decency to turn up before I'd just spent seven hours writing your dossier and told everyone that you were dead, not after? Where the hell were you?"

"Well, in case it escaped your notice, I was shot. Three times. And then I crashed the car. And the airbag blew up. In my face. Did I mention the fact that I broke my nose and two ribs? And if I remember correctly, you said to, I quote, 'ignore the bastards and keep driving'. Am I right?"

"Yes, you are, but you still come out smelling of roses, Evelyn. And that was two bloody weeks ago! Where have you been between then and now?"  
"Enjoying death. Agent Evelyn Cameron reporting for duty." M stared at Evelyn. The mission in California she had been on had dragged out for about six months, and the accident that Evelyn had jut mentioned was what had caused the whole thing to fold. And as much as he hated - no, that was too unprofessional - disliked Evelyn, feisty, annoying, decisive and quick-to-judge as she was, M was still human, and the guilt of ultimately killing her, as he thought he had done at the time, was overwhelming. The only release he had had for the first few days was making some poor cab driver ferry him halfway around London until the final harsh words he had barked at Evelyn through her earpiece stopped ringing through his head. Still, Evelyn was looking no worse for wear. On the contrary, she looked as if she had been on holiday. Her platinum blonde hair had been just past her shoulder blades when she left; now it cascaded down to her elbow length, but with none of the usual split ends and broken strands that usually came with just leaving your hair to grow of it's own accord for any length of time. She was tanned and her face looked no different to usual, except for some faint bruising around the bridge of her nose, though if she had been telling the truth about the broken ribs, it would seemingly been a lot worse around her chest. She was wearing a tight blouse and skirt that hugged her figure, and looked if anything like she had recently been in the shower. Not at all like agents who had just come back from missions, least of all like someone who had been declared officially dead less that a day ago.  
Come to think of it, M had always had a slight crush on Evelyn. Well, he liked the way she looked anyway. It was her persona that he couldn't stand."You know, last time someone turned up here, I ended up sleeping with them."  
Evelyn smirked, folding her arms flicking her hair out of her eyes. "I hope to god that wasn't Q."


End file.
